Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Davis, S. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Davis, S. K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1993 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Relatedness and altruism in Polistes wasps

Colin R. Hughes, David C. Queller, Joan E. Strassmann and Scott K. Davis

Department of Biology, Rice University PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251, USA Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843, USA

Address reprint requests to D. C. Queller.

ABSTRACT

Genetic relatedness is expected to play a crucial role in the evolution of altruistic behaviors such as worker behavior in the social insects. If individuals sacrifice their own reproduction, then the genes for this sacrifice will be lost unless these individuals aid the reproduction of others who share the genes. This leads to the prediction that altruism should be most common in species with high relatedness among potential beneficiaries. Here we report an attempt to test for such an association. We estimated both the incidence of altruism and the relatedness to potential beneficiaries in foundresses of seven species of paper wasps. The predicted positive correlation was not found, and we conclude that factors other than relatedness are more important in determining interspecific differences in the incidence of altruism.

Key words: relatedness, Polistes, inclusive fitness, kin selection.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
S. L. Vehrencamp
Evolutionary routes to joint-female nesting in birds
Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2000; 11(3): 334 - 344.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.